byJames McClister February 17, 2015

Miami Agent Magazine

Brazilians are spending more money in the U.S. than ever…and Miami is benefitting big.

A port of indulgence for Brazil’s elite, Miami has catered to South American investors for decades, helping them funnel huge sums into lavish, coastal condominiums. But now, following the recent reelection of Brazilian President Dilma Roussef, a number of the country’s biggest spenders are looking to increase their overseas holdings, and Miami is benefitting in a big way.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, affirmed the impact Roussef’s reelection is having on South Florida.

“After the last election, we were talking to a lot of people concerned about getting their capital out of Brazil,” she said, adding that the exodus was largely a response to politics.

Brazilians Flee

With specific data unavailable, it’s difficult to quantify the recent influx of Brazilian investment. But throughout South Florida, developers, agents, bankers and a slew of other industry insiders are abuzz with talk of Brazil.

They speak of a swelling of Brazilian capital, aimed not just at property investments, but an increase in more prolonged and involved ventures, such as setting up businesses and obtaining residency and later citizenship for themselves and their families.

Genilde Guerra, an attorney at Kravitz & Guerra, told the Journal that Brazilian clients are mainly “concerned about the instability of Brazil’s political environment.

“They don’t want to be the last one’s to leave,” she said.

Not a 1980s/90s Repeat

According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, in 2013, approximately 3 million of the country’s 200 million lived abroad, and of those, one-third were in the U.S. Drawing from local sources, the Journal reported that Florida has become one of the most attractive destinations for these emigrating Brazilians, with as many as 300,000 living in the Sunshine State. Their presence is now so prominent in Miami that in 2013, Brazilians accounted for 51 percent of the city’s tourism.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. has taken on weighty injections of Brazilian immigrants. During the 80s and 90s, Brazil was brought under the wing of a harsh, U.S.-backed military junta that drove the country into near ruin, igniting a rash of economic problems, including hyperinflation and unemployment. Thousands of Brazilians fled the regime for a safer economic climate, with many finding haven in the U.S.

The difference between today and earlier migrations, is that before, Brazilians were entering the U.S. with little to their name, satisfied working low paying labor jobs. Today, it’s far more likely for them to bring wealth.

A New Class of Wealth

In the last year, the Brazilian real has lost approximately a fifth of its value against the dollar, and the country’s inflation rate is nearing its 6.5 percent limit, the Journal reported. According to the Economic Freedom Index, a joint project from the Journal and The Heritage Foundation, researchers also noted significant setbacks for businesses in Brazil, including declines in investment freedom and monetary freedom.

In the face of state-imposed hardships, many of Brazil’s elite are taking preemptive measures and moving their accounts offshore, building strong U.S. portfolios to support their emigrating families. They’re sinking their money into promising developments, buying land and building.

In 2014, Brazilian investor Jose Assumpcao, founder of Lider Aviacao, purchased a 37,000 square-foot plot in Edgewater, which included approvals to build a 16-story, 127-unit residential tower, the Daily Business Review reported. And he’s not the only one.

According to the Journal, Brazilians are now among Miami’s top three foreign buyers of high-price real estate, along with Argentines and Venezuelans.

Miami Hot, U.S. Hotter

To account for the high volumes of international investors pouring into the city, particularly those from China and Brazil, local officials recently created a special foreign investment center downtown to process EB5 visas, which are awarded to individuals investing $1,000,000 and who are creating or preserving at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers, not including investors and immediate family members.

The benefits for Miami are expected to be substantial.

“The City of Miami is staying true to the intent and mission of the United States Citizen Immigration Services by offering top-tier EB5 Regional Center projects to foreign investors which in turn will provide for the creation of thousands of jobs for our local residents,” Mikki Canton, managing director of Miami’s Office of International Business Development, said in a 2014 statement. “The mission of the City of Miami EB5 Regional Center is to create thousands of jobs for local residents and strengthen economic growth in South Florida.”

However, despite business between Miami and Brazil being up last year – 0.82 percent year-over-year from January to November, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – the city is losing market share. Brazil’s overall trade with the U.S. rose nearly twice as fast as with South Florida. With healthier savings, Brazilians are looking to the entire U.S. for opportunities.

Miami’s future skyscrapers: Part II

About a month after I posted about Miami’s future skyscrapers, where I introduced seven of Miami’s biggest high-rise projects, five additional projects have been revived and/or proposed for the Greater Downtown Miami area. The city is back to its old housing boom ways…

1400 Biscayne:
1400 Biscayne is being revived from the original building that was proposed for this site before the economic crash. 1400 Biscayne is mixed-use, although primarily residential. It is designed by the architects Pei Cobb Freed Partners. The building would rise 651 feet or 198 meters, towering over theArsht Center, located just a block south of this project. The building is designed with a ground floor courtyard with retail, perfect for cafés and restaurants for the theater crowd. Above this would be about 100,000 square feet of office space and 710,000 square feet of residential space, totaling 428 residential units.

The previous design for 1400 Biscayne was more airy, incorporating a lot more glass than the current, heavy design does. Currently on the site is a dull, three-story office building from 1971, which would be demolished to build this tower. The area around the Arsht Center is desolate with vacant lots surrounding every corner of the performing arts center. After a show, most patrons leave the area for other neighborhoods for dinner and drinks. 1400 Biscayne could be the catalyst for infill development around the beautiful performing arts center to finally create a 24/7 urban neighborhood here.

The original design for 1400 Biscayne. The Adrienne Arsht Center can be seen to the right of the tower.

Ground floor view of the new design for 1400 Biscayne.

Aerial view of the new design of 1400 Biscayne.

Brickell Flatiron:
Designed by architect Enrique Norten, Brickell Flatiron was initially proposed to much fanfare in 2006 as one of Miami’s most exciting high-rise designs. Unfortunately, construction never began and the lot became a parking lot. In 2011, the lot’s southern corner was the proposed site of a small pocket park designed by Raymond Jungles. Work began on the park in 2012 but as of October 2012, work has been stalled for months. Now, the high-rise is back and the developer is in the permitting process with the city to get this built. Scrap the park idea.

Brickell Flatiron is located at 1015 South Miami Avenue, on a triangular lot. The design of the building takes advantage of this unique lot shape with a design reminiscent of Manhattan’s Flatiron Building. Brickell Flatiron will be 794 feet (242 meters) tall with 70 stories. Inside will be 554 residential units with 254,043 square feet of office space, 30,316 sf of retail, 16,913 sf of restaurant space and 820 parking spaces.

Brickell Flatiron building as seen from South Miami Avenue looking north.

Brickell Flatiron as seen from SE 10th Street looking south.

The triangular lot’s southern tip will become a public plaza. The developer is currently going through a land swap with the city to transfer the lot’s southern tip to the city for public use. In exchange, Brickell Flatiron would get the tiny pocket park on the northeast corner of this block to develop.

Crimson Tower:
Crimson Tower is a 205 foot (65 meters) high, 18-story, 83-unit apartment building proposed for theEdgewater neighborhood at 527 NE 27th Street. Crimson Tower is designed by the architecture firm IDEA. The building is great in that it’ll provide greater population density in the growing Edgewater neighborhood, especially considering it will be built over a currently-vacant lot, however, the design is horrid. Of all the new proposed towers in Miami, this is the least favorite and most aesthetically painful.

With 150 parking spaces, there’s also way too much parking for an 83-unit apartment building. The city should discourage developers to include so much parking, especially in a neighborhood as walkable as Edgewater. Just looking at the elevations of this building and it’s clearly half parking, half apartments. Especially for a waterfront location, the city’s planning and zoning department should be more stringent on design standards. This is Miami, the city deserves quality urban design. Very unfortunate.

In total, Crimson Tower will be 219,350 square feet, half of which is dedicated to parking. 83 apartments, 6,654 sf of open and green space, 150 parking spaces and 7 bicycle racks.

Element:
Element was originally proposed in 2006 and was later cancelled. Originally designed by Chad Oppenheim, the same Miami architect who designed Ten Museum Park in Miami’s Park West neighborhood, Element has been revived with a new design by Dorsky+Yue. Element is to be 412 feet (126 meters) high with 389 apartments in 36 floors. Element’s new redesign is beautiful with a public baywalk. Unlike other projects, such as Icon Bay that pretend to open the bay up to the public, Element’s baywalk is much more successful.

The old design for Element as designed by Miami architect Chad Oppenheim in 2006.

The new and current designed for Element.

Miami World Center:
Oh, Miami World Center. After Brickell CitiCentre, this is one of the most exciting and promising projects for Miami. It’s scale is massive, its urban and economic impact is incredible and its design is amazing.

Miami World Center was first proposed in 2007 and then it died down during the Great Recession. Now, with recent land purchases and activity it seems Miami World Center and it couldn’t be more exciting. Miami World Center would take over eight, mostly vacant city blocks in the heart of the city and convert them into a dense, busy neighborhood with thousands of apartments, offices, stores, restaurants, theaters, etc. It’s the kind of development that any city could dream of. Everything is still very abstract and preliminary about Miami World Center, so nothing is exact quite yet. Depending on the aggressiveness of the developer, a project of this scale would no doubt, easily take many years to complete.

Miami World Center is divided into five districts:

Worldcircle: The central public plaza of the project. It would feature an impressive fountain and sculpture. Business and retail activity would center around this public plaza.

First Avenue: Lush shade trees would line First Avenue with stores, restaurants and cafés on the ground floor of hotels and high-rise apartment buildings.

Seventh Street Promenade: Seventh Street would be a pedestrian-only promenade connecting the American Airlines Arena to the east with the Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre Metrorail station to the west. Seventh Street would have cafés and restaurants on the ground floor with apartments above. Think South Beach’s Lincoln Road, but with much more density.

Worldwalk and Worldplaza: A diagonal road connecting Bayfront Park to Miami World Center. This area would have wide, open public spaces with lush shade trees.

Worldsquare: This would be a massive semi-interior public space forming a courtyard space within one of the buildings. This space would be covered with a trellis-style roof canopy connecting five stories of retail on either side. This space is billed as ideal for Miami Fashion Week.

Miami World Center looking east towards Biscayne Bay.

MWC looking north towards Edgewater and Wynwood.

MWC Worldcircle would be the center of the retail and business activity in the new neighborhood.

MWC Seventh Street Promenade. Seventh Street would be a pedestrian-only promenade connecting the Overtown Metrorail station to the west to the American Airlines Arena to the east.

Urban and pedestrian-friendly streets of Miami World Center.

Miami World Center’s Worldplaza would be the perfect location for Miami Fashion Week.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – April 12, 2012 – In most cases, people who purchase condominium units from bulk buyers won’t be able to sue them if there are construction defects or other problems.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott last week signed a bill that extended the protections for investment groups that have bought multiple units in a building. That means the investors don’t have any more responsibility than other buyers in the building.

The measure went into effect July 1, 2010, and Scott extended it for three more years until July 2015.

Florida law used to consider a developer anyone who bought more than seven units in a building of 70 units or more. Those buyers were forced to assume the same legal and financial risks as developers who build condos.

The bill eliminated the title of developer for bulk buyers, giving investment groups more incentive to make deals for deeply discounted units.

While investors scooped up South Florida condos, “a lot of other areas in Florida are having problems in terms of absorbing unsold units,” said Marty Schwartz, a Miami lawyer and a co-sponsor of the bill.

Some investor groups have proposed making the bill’s protections permanent.

“I still think there’s a need for it, but only for a limited period of time,” said Donna DiMaggio Berger, a Broward County lawyer who represents condo associations statewide. “Why would we want to make it permanent when the (housing) market is no longer distressed?”

From late 2008 until September 2011, investor groups made more than 100 bulk deals for condos in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to CondoVultures.com, a Bal Harbour-based consulting firm. The total dollar value was nearly $3 billion.

If The Related Group builds its second new condominium in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, 1100 Millecento Residences will add 382 units to the market. That would be nearly double the size of the 192-unit MyBrickell, another condo it will begin building in the same neighborhood in the coming days.

The architecture is inspired by internationally known architect Carlos Ott, who designed the Jade Beach, Jade Ocean and Artech buildings.

The interiors are being done by Italian design firm Pininfarina , which has worked with international brands includingFerrari . This marks the first time the brand has applied its designs to a residential building, Related said.

South Florida’s real estate crisis in one chart

South Florida’s housing crash may be old news, but recent data offer some valuable perspective.The Federal Housing Finance Agency maintains appreciation indices for metropolitan areas, which are similar to the famous Case-Shiller index but more local. By stacking up Broward and Miami-Dade’s indices to the nation’s, the warning signs are hard to miss.

The chart anchors all three indices to the first quarter of 2000, so the numbers show appreciation since then. Real estate got out of hand across the country, with appreciation peaking nationally at 166 percent in 2007. But in Broward, values soared 272 percent. Miami-Dade did even better, up 283 percent.

It’s easy to see how quickly values collapsed, but the chart also points out something that tends to be overlooked amid the wreckage of real estate. Home values are still ahead of where they were in 2003.

But perhaps more surprising, local property has actually held its value better than the average home in the United States. According to the FHFA, the average U.S. home is worth about 40 percent more than it was at the start of 2000. In Broward, the average home is worth 49 percent more. In Miami-Dade, it’s 56 percent more valuable.

A sign of resiliency, or a hint that South Florida still has some dropping to do? We’ll probably find out this year.

The Miami Herald’s Economic Time Machine charts South Florida’s recovery from the Great Recession by comparing current conditions to levels set before the downturn.

The ETM crunches 60 local indicators to measure the economic activity, then finds when each indicator was at that level before the 2007-2009 recession. At the moment, the current economy most resembles where it was in June 2002. Visit miamiherald.com/economic-time-machine for updates and analysis of the latest economic data.